I just spent quite a bit of time culling my "to read" list using a combination of Google Books and the "Search Inside this Book" feature of amazon.com.  Google Books, in particular, was incredibly helpful, and I'm grateful to my wife for encouraging me to use this resource more than I have in the past.  As a result of that search process, I was able to shift quite a few books from the "need to read the entire book" category to "just order a chapter on Interlibrary Loan."  That is good news on two fronts: less reading and less spending (because I don't have to buy the book).  Perhaps even more importantly, taking the time to at least look at the table of contents of every book on my "to read" list has given me a sense of relief that there seems to be less and less "landmines" ahead of me -- that is, discoveries of huge swaths of relevant literature of which I am currently unaware.

So, the upshot for this week, with 64 books to read and 36 weeks to go, is 1.78 books/week left to read.   And, as my total, again weighs in under the 2.0 books/week threshold, the question emerges of whether I can perhaps finish my reading well before December 2009 -- and thus potentially start writing my dissertation earlier than planned.  At minimum, it would be a huge step forward to have my dissertation outlined by the end of 2009.